Boats

Five Tools Every Boater Should Carry

Five Tools You Should Never Be Without

They’ll get you out of many a jam, they won’t break your bank account, and you probably don’t have them aboard—yet.

I used to think every boater carried tools onboard, even if he was a mechanical klutz. But when I began working as a diesel mechanic, I discovered that many carry not a single one. If you have limited stowage, choosing which tools to carry is a bit of an art. But that’s a subject for another column. This one’s more basic, dealing with five tools that no boater should be without. Over the years I’ve found this quintet indispensible. No, they won’t magically allow you to fix every problem, but they will raise the odds in your favor, take up very little space, and best of all, are cheap and available at any good hardware store or on the Internet.